The Matrix Preloaded
by Orcus
Summary: Chapter 5 up. Daimyo puts the chase scene in reloaded to shame, Morpheus meets Niobe, and Abel hacks Agents earphones
1. Prolouge

The Matrix: Prequel  
  
Prologue  
  
2002  
  
Sparks wiped the sweat from his brow as he punched the hack into the Logos computer.  
  
"Crap, damn, shit; screwed, we're screwed; damn it, Niobe".  
  
Sparks cursed his captain, silently at first before coming to a realization. Niobe was jacked in, she couldn't hear him. He moved over to the chair were the women sat peacefully, her eyes shut and her body still as she delved into the dream world. Screw her and her unnoticed love for Morpheus. Sparks couldn't take it anymore. He jumped onto Niobe's lap and looked directly at her eyelids.  
  
"You", the operator mused "have a death wise"; he practically broke into tears, "Morpheus has Neo; you might not believe in the One but you've seen what Neo can do. Woman, you're going to get me killed. "  
  
As he returned to the operating station, a hint of leather caught his eye. Why not? he thought as he moved over to Ghost's chair and began to switch boots with the Asian man. Its not like they're coming back.  
  
As he was moving to the left boot, the phone went off.  
  
"Operator," Sparks responded, putting the headset back on.  
  
"Sparks, where are they?" Ghost's voice flooded into the operators ear.  
  
Sparks spun around on his chair getting his customary wee out of his system while Niobe wasn't there to stop him. He almost unplugged the two other crewmembers right there and then so that they wouldn't have to go through their misery.  
  
"Morpheus is on the freeway," Sparks began to laugh uncontrollably.  
  
"It's not funny Sparks," Ghost responded, as Zen as ever.  
  
"Yes, Ghost, it is funny; I mean I knew Morpheus and the gang had a few screws loose -- but the freeway! As we speak he's on top of a truck fighting an agent."  
  
"We can see him, Sparks," Ghost said.  
  
"And you know why Morpheus and Niobe are crazy? For the same reason they were trained by a crazy captain and her wacky first mate and guess what, Ghosty? I have proof it works cause Neo, Trinity and yourself all crazy".  
  
"Sparks," Niobe's stern voice yelled through the speaker "Give us the freeway exit number and put Ghost's boots back on him".  
  
"Yes Captain, right away Captain".  
  
***  
  
Niobe walked through the gardens looking for one particular grave. As she spotted the plot that she visited at least once a day when she was in Zion, the plot of the captain that was like a father to her, she dropped the stern exterior and bust into tears.  
  
"I heard about the EMP issue," a familiar voice said over her shoulder "and for that I am sorry. I have said it before, Captain Niobe, that some things never change".  
  
"Why are you here Morpheus?"  
  
"I came to talk to Ceres, to tell her that the war is going to be over soon".  
  
"Morpheus," Councillor Hamman called out in greeting "I have cleared the Nebuchadnezzer for take off whether or not Lock likes it and Niobe you still have to attend the meeting even if your ship is not going to be one of the ones in the assault.  
  
"Remember, Niobe," Morpheus called out as he walked away, "some things never change."  
  
Authors Note: Thanks for the first chapter. Next chapter we meet Orcus and Ceres as well as their crew and a tribute to Dark Puck, the author of The Matrix: Legacy appears. Please Read and Review 


	2. Whisper

The Matrix: Preloaded  
  
Chapter 1:  
  
Gemini  
  
1983  
  
Ceres walked down the hallways of the building, a surge of adrenaline rushing through her blood as sweat drenched her knotty sweater and soaked her to the bones. As a cold drop of blood hit the floor she saw the sentinels rip through the haul of the Argo. Alexa, Chyron, Sandro, and Rox had followed Captain Nonaka as he left the ship behind, and headed out on his own. The former crew lived in its own little world now, a world where Nonaka had convinced them that they could cause machines to "matriculate", as they termed it, to their side and live in peace by plugging them into their dreamscape program and playing with them like they were fellow humans. The worst part was that Raoul had gone with them. The man who Ceres was certain that she had loved at one point had followed Nonaka to the base outside of Zion just because the so-called genius scientist had reprogrammed a few sentinels and grown a monkey from a pod.  
  
"Come with us, Ceres," Rox had called to her as she stood at the gate of this ship, "We're going to make peace. Give these machines a chance in another world where humans and programs will live in harmony."  
  
"Peace," she muttered. "Not likely."  
  
"Someone has to take the first step," Doctor Nonaka told the young rebel. "Why can't it be us?"  
  
"Ceres," Sandro called to her, "don't you want this war to end?"  
  
"The war will end when the One returns," she answered harshly. "Come on, Raoul, we're leaving."  
  
"No," his words cut her like a dagger. "I think that Nonaka is the One and that he can end this war and make peace."  
  
"The One would never abandon Zion," Ceres said, slapping him on the face, "and neither will I."  
  
"Ceres," Alexis called out to her former bunkmate, "please tell my brother that I said goodbye".  
  
Ceres walked onto what was left of the Argo: a pilot's chair, a few hoverpads and the EMP, then she felt something warm around her knee. She looked down and saw Baby clinging to her.  
  
"This is your fault, you dumb baboon," she yelled at the monkey before kicking it in the chest and pushing it out of the ship.  
  
The ride to Zion should have been routine except for one thing: in a effort to make peace Nonaka had disabled the EMP. The sentinels appeared swiftly, surrounding the ship. As she heard the sirens blare she called out in the darkness, "No! No, I don't want to die here! No, please; not like this!"  
  
Mink shook her roommate awake.  
  
"Captain, it's all right! You were just having a nightmare, you're in Zion, you're safe, now get up."  
  
"Raoul," Ceres let out the name in a soft moan.  
  
Poor woman, Mink thought to herself. It had been ten years since Ceres had been found lying in the wreck of the Argo, abandoned by her captain and left to die by her crew. Luckily, Captain Flint had been taking the Pequod on one of his many treasure hunts and had found her when he was searching through the wreckage for artefacts. Since her return to Zion, Ceres had found herself stationed under Captain Hamann. Hamann had not only taught Ceres to truly believe in the prophecy but he also helped her to strength her religious faith, which was quite rare for a podborn to have.  
  
Ceres walked through the apartment level until she came to Floor Twelve, Row Five, Apartment 9 She knocked.  
  
"Come in," she heard a young voice pipe up.  
  
Ceres entered the room to find Puck helping Eva strap on her medical bag. The young women marched up to Ceres and stood at attention.  
  
"All right, my new crewman, we are going to see the Oracle again today to try and locate a new potential. Be at the loading dock in fifteen minutes." Ceres couldn't help laughing when Puck perked up at the mention of the Oracle.  
  
"Will Seraph be there?" Puck blurted out. She was well known around Zion as "that girl who's madly in love with the Oracle's bodyguard".  
  
"Probably he takes care of her."  
  
"Taking care of his mother, how wonderful," Puck let out a heavy sigh.  
  
"You know," Eva told her roommate, "it's December, and the Oracle always hangs up mistletoe."  
  
"I know. Who could forget when she made Apache and Morpheus follow tradition?"  
  
"I meant this could be your chance to kiss Seraph, stupid," Eva explained.  
  
Puck let out a shriek and then ran towards the docks. Ceres and Eva entered the docks and Ceres let out a scream directed towards one particular crewmember.  
  
"Orcus, what in hell's name have you done to my ship!?"  
  
The Gemini's first mate slid out of from under the hull of the fleet's flagship. The Gemini was the biggest and by far the most unique of the fleet's twenty-five ships. Eleven ships were tended to by the Zion mechanics, eight were stationed at the hover station over what used to be Cleveland, Ohio, three were scout ships and the Logos was un-operational at the moment. The final two ships were under Ceres' care. Virgo was a scout ship that was docked in a special compartment of the Gemini. Since the Gemini was the biggest ship in the fleet, Ceres was the only one with the honour of commanding two ships. The Gemini was Orcus' baby. So far he had added a second EMP, an extending gun bubble on each side and a back-up jack stand. The ship looked more streamlined them before and it should have: Dozer and Orcus had been working on it for about six months.  
  
"What's new now?" she asked. 


	3. Story 'bout a Girl

The Matrix: Preloaded  
  
Chapter 2:  
  
Story 'bout a girl  
  
"Well," Orcus began, "It started when I realized that the Gemini was too big to fit down a mechanical line."  
  
"Orcus," Mink looked the young man in the face, "no one can pilot a mechanical line; it's impossible."  
  
"Not anymore. You see, Mink after our last encounter with the squids, I had to remake pad rows eight, fifteen, and twenty-six, and then I realiazed that if I put on smaller pads I could create a second storage deck by removing rows six to eight. So I got the council to approve the making of a storage hatch and--"  
  
"Orcus," Ceres said, giving him an icy glare as her eyes shifted to the young Zionite who was stepping out of the ship.  
  
"Mifune," Orcus told her bluntly.  
  
"But we already have an operator."  
  
"He's the APU driver," Orcus muttered under his breath.  
  
"I must be losing my hearing," Ceres commented. "None of the ships can possibly hold an APU; only the Gemini is big enough. Orcus, why do we need an APU?"  
  
"Um, well...," Orcus beat around the bush but everyone knew why they needed it. "We have to go supply the Deserters." All of the crew dreaded the annual trip that the council had ordered the Gemini to make. It wasn't because they wanted an alliance with the group that had been dubbed the Deserters in Zion; it was out of kindness that the Council forced the crew to re-supply the small base as a sign of good faith. Orcus looked down into Ceres' deep brown eyes and saw the sorrow that she still harboured. I'm going to do it this year, he decided. I'm going to punch that bastard Raoul out. His train of thought was interrupted by Ceres' voice.  
  
"Orcus, come on. I have three weeks to worry about the trip, but it's a bad idea to keep the Oracle waiting." She looked at her crew as they boarded the ship. Apache, Orcus, Mink, Daimyo, Puck, Eva, Disk, Mifune, Cypher, and Dozer all boarded the Gemini as quickly as possible, Puck loosing an excited scream at the prospect of seeing Seraph.  
  
"He's late," Apache grinned. "Probably being escorted here by a corpsman because of what happened last night."  
  
"Apache, sum up why my scout isn't here in three words or less," Ceres ordered him.  
  
Apache gave her one of his patented innocent smirks and mouthed, "Bar, Kali, Deadbolt."  
  
Sure enough Captain Conqueror and two infantrymen were escorting Morpheus and Deadbolt to the ship. "Captain Ceres, Lieutenant Orcus, I apologise for Morpheus' absence; after a night of failed attempts on Kali, I was feeling depressed and felt the need to take it out on someone."  
  
"Needless to say, with their tempers, they both ended up spending the night in the brig," Conqueror told Morpheus' superiors.  
  
"You need to lay off the hooch, Deadbolt," Orcus told the young Corpsman.  
  
"Yes, Lieutenant," Lock responded.  
  
"Lock, remember that productive little chat we had?" Ceres asked him. He shook his head and Ceres sighed. "These ranks are all in your head; Orcus is just my first mate. We don't have Lieutenants on the ship. Do you understand?" He nodded and Ceres walked onto the ship.  
  
"Goodbye, Orcus."  
  
"What do you call me, Deadbolt?"  
  
"Goodbye, Lieutenant," Lock snapped to attention as the first mate boarded the ship.  
  
***  
  
Dear Diary,  
  
Today was the day from hell. Okay maybe that's an overstatement but not really. I have so many problems, life just sucks when you're a poor black girl living in a bad neighbourhood.  
  
"Dear Diary, I am a geek with so many problems. Why, oh why, won't Billy McBob take me to the dance? I am such a loser geek with no friends, I probably wasn't even worth the two and a half minutes of fun."  
  
"You little freak!" Danielle yelled as she chased her little brother across their shared bedroom. "I am so going to tell Sarah who's been leaving her those love notes."  
  
"Do that and I make copies of your diary and post them in the story window."  
  
Danielle bit her lip and turned around, not wanting to go through the torment that she endured from both of her brothers and her mother daily. She wasn't pretty enough, she wasn't cool enough, she should be home to watch her brother, constant reminders that with the new supermarket down the street business was low and that being the second child she wouldn't be able to be sent to college. Not like Ted wants to go, she thought to herself. Her other brother, Ted, was an inner-city street gang leader who was more concerned with who was cutting the latest track and which peeps were trespassing in his hood than his education. It's people like him who contribute to the racism and stereotypes that I have to live with daily, she thought.  
  
"Danielle, Bobby, it's time to go!" her father called up the stairs.  
  
"Yippee, Grandma's house!" the nine-year-old boy called out as he ran down the stairs.  
  
Danielle wasn't that excited about going to her grandmother's house. They went once a week. She was more excited about seeing those strange people who were constantly visiting the apartment two doors down. Every week a new group would come. Each group dressed in expensive clothes and designer sunglasses. Her mother disliked them, claiming that they were strange. Her brothers thought that they were freaks, but her father only commented on their speed and efficiency. "They move with a purpose," was all he would say when asked about them. To be truthful she was becoming a bit afraid of them. They had been studying the space race in Social 201 and Danielle was having strange dreams that involved her moving along with these people. These dreams started when she learnt about an Irish terrorist called Orcus and a trafficker called Ceres and their effects on the space race. They were involved in these dreams somehow. They were looking for her, but it didn't feel like a dream that was the problem, it felt more real than life.  
  
***  
  
"Captain, we are at broadcast depth," Disk announced to the otherwise silent room. He cracked his fingers and spun his chair around. Ceres looked like she was lost in a dream world. Probably the stress of having to go to the Deserters' base.  
  
"All right, here's how it's going to work. Orcus, you take Puck, Eva and Morpheus to the Oracle. Mink you're driving, Apache and Daimyo guard the hard-line, and Cypher, you're on agent scouting duty."  
  
"What a surprise, can't send your boy-toys so you send me. I guess chicks stick together 'cause Daimyo has an easy job too." He dodged icy glares from Mink only to be caught by Ceres' eyes.  
  
"And who exactly is my boy-toy, Cypher?" the captain demanded, looking the man up and down.  
  
"Well you know that you, um, ah, can't really deny that you a have an attraction to him," he stuttered "you know, Or..."  
  
"Or what Cypher?" Puck smiled maliciously.  
  
Satisfied that Cypher had dug himself so deep that if it was a real hole, he'd be in what was once China, Daimyo decided to intervene. "Shut up, Cypher," he told the man before gasping and appearing in the construct.  
  
Ceres looked into the construct program and saw the usual RSI's as well as some fresh ones. Apache was in his standard ribbed black shirt, dark pants, and leather jacket. Ceres smiled as she saw him putting on the white cowboy hat which had become his trademark. He was the only Calgarian in Zion and damned if he wasn't proud of it. Daimyo had on his usual black suit complete with a grey shirt and tie, dark gloves and a matching trench. His hair was tied neatly in a bun and he explaining to Mink why he reloaded his guns. Mink, on the other hand, now had streaks of blonde in her otherwise black hair and was wearing a form-fitting vinyl tank top cut off at the bust and pants made of leather. Puck wore a red blouse that she left open at the belly button and an open black leather vest; she also wore elbow- high fingerless gloves and a knee-length skirt. Eva wore a white turtleneck under a black denim jacket and leather pants. All of them were wearing sunglasses but Eva's were tinted pink. Orcus wore a shirt, denim trench coat and denim pants -- all black. His hair was neater and the growth on his face was gone save a small moustache and goatee. Morpheus looked... well, unique. He wore a burgundy shirt and suit with a lime green tie and a black leather coat tailored in alligator skin style. His curly hair had been straightened and the matted beard that he kept was now groomed perfectly.  
  
"Oh, God!" Disk exclaimed. "Look at Cypher."  
  
Ceres held back a laugh. In his one of his ever-present attempts to prove he was hip, Cypher had changed his RSI to look like a punk. He wore a black long sleeved tee that was ripped on the sleeves. Over that he had a shirt that was covered in safety pins that read "The Sex Pistols" and had a silhouette of Sid Vicious on it. He also had ripped cargo pants and knee high combat boots, but the clincher to this outfit was a three foot blue Mohawk that appeared on his other wise shaved head. The little patch of fuzz on his face was also blue. Orcus laughed at him then picked up the phone  
  
"We're in". 


	4. The Old Aparment

The Matrix Preloaded  
  
Chapter 3  
  
The Old Apartment  
  
A/N: I do not own the Matrix or any characters I am using from the Matrix movies, and I'm pretty sure that Niobe's first name isn't Danielle; that's just something I made up.  
  
"I know that this hotdog is just a code that was cooked from a program programmed to look like a cow... but I don't care," Puck said, her mouth half full.  
  
"Why did I let them stop for hot dogs?" Orcus wondered out loud while Mink complained about the two new recruits in the car. Morpheus and Cypher had donned leather jackets and helmets and rode motorcycles in front of and behind the main car. Cypher had wondered why they couldn't just take an unmarked van. Mink had told him that she was not thirtysomething and when he objected that he couldn't tell she had thrashed him.  
  
***  
  
"We're here" Mr. Clark told his three children.  
  
"Be nice, Danielle, your grandma's old and she doesn't care about your problems," Mrs. Clark told her daughter. Danielle just shrugged as the family walked into the familiar apartment building shaking her head.  
  
The Guardian looked at the familiar family, reading their code. He smiled to himself, they had no clue he was reading their code, or that he could even see them. His shell was fit his purpose to a 'T'. To make sure that the apartment was safe, he had chosen to appear as a blind beggar in dressed in an old suit and a ratty top hat. No matter what he was pretending to be, he still had to look good doing it. Clean, clean, clean, clean, packing heat. From the looks of it the teenage boy was carrying an Uzi.  
  
"Excuse me, son," he addressed the young boy who appeared to be some inner-city youth rap star wannabe, "are you by any chance carrying a firearm?"  
  
"Wouldn't you like to know, Pops?" Ted replied looking at the man, then his family. His mother was in denial, his father had given up on him and Bobby probably didn't even know what a firearm was, but Danielle looked disgusted with him.  
  
"No," Mrs. Clark was quick to reply, "he's the good one. Check her," She motioned towards Danielle.  
  
Fine, the Guardian decided, we could always just do this the hard way. He picked up his cane and turned to face the wall behind him. He tapped three times on a certain piece of graffiti and smiled. An Asian man who appeared to be in his early thirties appeared in the doorway. Seraph was the man's -- or rather, program's -- name. He was an Exile who until about twenty years ago had served as the Merovingian's right hand. Then Seraph had been given the duty of training Seth, and that's when everything had gone wrong. Seraph trained the other Incubus too well. So well, in fact, that when Seth had messed up an encounter with a rebel ship, causing the deaths of Cain, Abel, Tiger, Vlad and Jacob, Seth not only been able to flawlessly cover his tracks and shift the blame to Seraph in the eyes of the henchman, he was also able to convince the Merovingian that Seraph was guilty -- not an easy task. But the Oracle had stepped in, giving Seraph a new purpose and changing him from a demon into an angel. Seraph approached the man.  
  
"I cannot let you into this building armed; please surrender your weapon." As Ted looked Seraph up and down he shook his head. "Then I must apologize." The Guardian laughed as Seraph began his usual routine.  
  
"For what?" Ted looked the man in the eyes.  
  
"For this." Seraph pushed the younger man into the wall and then pinned him on to the ground. "Will your surrender your weapon now?" As the boy nodded the parents looked disgusted, that is until the Chinese man pulled a leather square out of his pocket and allowed a badge to fall down. Works every time, thought the Guardian.  
  
"Seeing as this is a first offence I can let it go if you just surrender the weapon," Seraph told the Clarks. When Mr. Clark nodded, the white clad man took the gun and walked out of the door. Each of the Clark family left the room with different thoughts racing through their head: Ted wondering how he would protect his gang's turf, Mr. Clark wondering why the officer had let his son who was now a felon off with a warning, and Mrs. Clark wondering how her baby boy had been caught up in the world of gangs and guns. Bobby's eyes shone until his mother warned him not to mention this to Grandma. Only Danielle wondered how a blind man could have known that Ted was a boy and realize that he had a concealed weapon on his person.  
  
Armed, Armed, Armed, Armed, Armed, Armed; he Guardian nodded as he looked at the familiar codes. These numbers were blue, not green, a sign that the minds of these RSI's had been unplugged from the Matrix. The crew's senior officer just nodded at the program then turned to Cypher.  
  
"We'll be back in an hour," Orcus informed the scout. "Don't do anything stupid." Mink nodded in acknowledgement as she stepped outside but Cypher just muttered something under his breath. "No," Orcus called before the elevator closed.  
  
Cypher pulled out his cell phone and dialed Orcus' number "Do you have any clue what I just said?"  
  
"No, but I still don't want you to do it."  
  
Puck smiled as she saw Seraph entering the Oracles apartment. Perfect timing, she thought as she eyed the mistletoe. She ran towards the door pulling off her sunglasses in mid-stride. She stepped into the doorway and closed her eyes. "Pucker up, darling," she ordered.  
  
"Okay, my love", came a nasally voice. Muko, one of the "kids" that the Oracle took care of, pulled Puck down and started to kiss her face. It's tradition she reminded herself until her lips were pierced by a tongue. "You little freak!" Puck screamed throwing the program across the room. She felt blood trickle down her neck. "You bit me, you perverted little scum!" Puck jumped into the Oracles room and over the coffee table. She then jumped 3 feet into the air and caught Muko in a drop kick.  
  
"Puck!" Orcus yelled as he entered the doorway. "What are you doing"?  
  
"He bit me, Orcus," she replied.  
  
"What, you Mushi, go to your room," Orcus ordered the program.  
  
"You're not my Mother!"  
  
"Programs can't have mothers," Orcus informed him.  
  
"Priestess, Orcus is trying to sell me crack," Muko retorted.  
  
"Muko, go to your room," the Priestess ordered as the child turned around he looked Orcus square in the eye.  
  
"The Gemini is the ugliest ship in the fleet."  
  
"Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, you little shit, it's the greatest ship in the history of Zion and you know it!" Orcus screamed.  
  
"Can't I read Charlie Brown in peace?" Morpheus yelled out.  
  
Before any could reply, Orcus' cell phone rang.  
  
"Orcus," the man answered his cellphone.  
  
"Shield's in trouble," Ceres' voice flooded into his ear.  
  
"Well, I'll leave Mink in charge and take Cypher, tell Daimyo to meet me there, where is he?"  
  
"He's playing chicken with agents on the freeway."  
  
Orcus swore loudly as Morpheus tossed him the keys to his motorbike. He pulled out his phone and dialed Mink's number, telling her that she was in charge and leaving Eva to explain to the kids exactly what a fscking bastard was.  
  
As Orcus walked through the door Mink walked in.  
  
"Tradition", Eva yelled.  
  
Orcus kissed Mink quickly, and then cursed Shield's name quickly as he ran down the hallway, bumping into an African-American teenager. "Someone needs to learn you some manners, dog!" he yelled pulling out an Uzi and pointing it towards the man. Orcus grabbed the man's arm and pulled it in a circle, disarming him, he then hit a pressure point, knocking him unconscious. I don't have time for this shit, he thought, picking up his cellphone and dialing Eva.  
  
"You're needed in the hallway".  
  
***  
  
"Puck," the priestess told the young woman, "she will see you first."  
  
Puck got up and walked into the room to see an elderly woman sitting at the kitchen table, smoking a cigarette.  
  
"You must be Puck," the old women broke the silence. "Don't look so surprised, sweetie, I know that you were expecting something out of The Wizard of Oz, but I'm not so bad once you get to know me. Cookie?" the Oracle asked.  
  
Puck smiled and reached for a shortbread cookie. "Did you know?" she questioned.  
  
"That they're your favorite? Of course, sweetie, that's why I baked them. Now let me have a look at you." She looked Puck up and down and all about. "You're very noble, Puck, I hope that the more of the potentials turn out like you," the Oracle smiled.  
  
"What's that mean?" Puck questioned her.  
  
"I hate to be the bearer of bad news, sweetie, but something's going to happen to you."  
  
"You mean a choice."  
  
"No, you've already made the choice. You just don't understand it yet; it concerns a new crewmember. You won't know until the time comes, but you're going to have to risk your life to save hers."  
  
"Will I die?" the young woman questioned.  
  
"Like I said before, sugarplum, I can only see past the choices that you understand but I do know this: if you do this, you risk dying. I wish I had some better news."  
  
"It is time for you to go," came a deep Asian voice. Normally Puck would have been happy to see the program but this time she only turned back and looked the Oracle in the eyes.  
  
"What if I make the wrong choice?"  
  
"If you make the right choice, you may or may not die," the Oracle responded, "but if you make the wrong choice, Orcus dies, no ifs, ands or buts."  
  
"What was said was for you only," Mink told the younger rebel as she walked out.  
  
Puck just nodded, chills running down her spine.  
  
***  
  
"So you're Morpheus," the old woman looked the young man up and down.  
  
"And you must be the Oracle," Morpheus kissed her hand.  
  
"Ooh, such a charmer. Well I've seen enough for today, Morpheus. I now know the most important thing there is to know about you, that you don't believe in fate, not yet anyway. Something's going to change that. I see great things for you Morpheus; you will help us win this war."  
  
"How?" the young man asked.  
  
"Look up there honey. That means 'know thyself', and when the time comes you'll know what to do."  
  
Eva rolled the unconscious man on into the recovery position. As she looked up she saw Mushi running down the hall, a teenage girl following him.  
  
"Dear God, Ted," the girl said out loud, "what did you do now?" She looked down to see one of the people from the apartment administering first aid to her brother.  
  
"You're one of those people!" Danielle stated.  
  
"Yes, I'm Eva."  
  
"Danielle."  
  
"And this is Mushi," Eva told the other girl taking the boy's hand and grabbing him. "You're brother will be fine. He just fainted, should be up in an hour or so. Come on Mushi," Eva said and then whispered, "Did you bite her too?"  
  
"Well, well Eva", the Oracle said "I have nothing to say to you because you beat me to it when you meet Niobe in the hallway".  
  
"You mean that Danielle is...?"  
  
"The very potential that Ceres is looking for." 


	5. Just Missed the Trainman

The Matrix Preloaded  
  
Chapter 4:  
  
Just Missed the Trainman  
  
Authors Notes: It has come to my attention that some parts of this story are confusing so I will try to explain a few things. 1st off I wrote the story before I chose my pen name. Secondly regarding the sizes of the ships The Gemini is twice as big as the Hammer and the Virgo is a scout ship. It is about 1/3 the size of Logos.  
  
Omri stepped outside onto the chateau's balcony and plucked a cigarette from the standard pack. The Maruei shelled program cursed under his breath. The last time he smoked was to cycles ago when he had, had the Merovingian's programmer Aclepsius tattoo him in the traditional style of the New Zealand natives, cutting the lines in his face and rubbing ash in them before they scared. With the painkillers that were developed during that cycle, he wondered how the natives had endured it on the island of New Zealand. I wonder if there's an old Zealand was his next thought before a smooth baritone voice interrupted him.  
  
"You know that those things cause lung cancer right", the voice asked?  
  
"I don't have lungs Cain, I'm not a human", Omri quickly retorted, " and even if I did, the damage I'd risk it under the circumstances".  
  
"True, true", Cain responded "just think of it, if he's this angry now imagine what he'll be like when Adam gets here".  
  
Omri shuddered; it was a well-known fact that The Merovingian and Adam hated each other. Adam blamed his "brother" on the deletion of his wife Eve, although it was common knowledge that Maverick, the one of the previous cycle had deleted the program. Adam reminded Merv every chance he could that if Tiger and Esau hadn't dropped there guns and ran at the first sign of the anomaly she may have not been deleted. The Merovingian of course always countered with cause and effect. If Adams men were capable of handling a couple of rebels Tiger, and Esau would not have had to guard Eve. Of course to make the feud even sillier Merv refused to let the trainman bring Eve back into the Matrix. On top of that the two still met once a year to argue about the fact that Eve was still in limbo. As Omri inhaled a puff of smoke he heard Tigers excited voice screaming.  
  
"Abel hacked into the agents earphones, you have got to hear this", Tiger yelled!  
  
"What", Cain asked?  
  
"A rebels playing chicken with agents", Tiger responded "on the freeway".  
  
The vampire, demon, and werewolf all shared a glance before running into the building and heading for the library.  
  
"So explain to me one more time, why I'm going back," Daimyo asked?  
  
"Because, I'm this ships Captain and I say they need help", Ceres responded.  
  
"They don't need help they need a miracle" Disk retorted before sending the now leather jacket clad Daimyo through the matrix's software until he appeared at a road box about 10 miles away from Orcus.  
  
"Ready or not," he told himself starting his engine "Here I go".  
"Why do they persist in this game of cat and mouse", Agent Gill addressed his partner Agent Parker.  
  
"I do not know", Parker replied in his monotone drone, "perhaps they believe that we will give up if they make chase".  
  
"Unlikely" both responded in unison.  
  
Agent Gill saw an opening in the lane ahead of them and decided to go for it. Slamming on the gas he plowed his way through a yellow punch buggy catching the attention of Daimyo.  
  
Focus, the rebel reminded himself. This isn't a kamikaze mission, you want to live, it's dangerous he thought but if I do it right I just might survive. He slowed down his motorcycle and removed his left arm from the handlebar. Reaching into his trench coat, he found what he was looking for. Out of one pocket Daimyo pulled out something that Morpheus had programmed the day before yesterday a remotely detonated grenade. He pulled his hand up and placed the explosive inside his left breast pocket. He then reached onto his inner belt feeling for a small sheath. Finding it he pulled out a tanto and stuck the blade in his teeth. Regaining control of the motorcycle Daimyo piloted it until he was about two meters behind the agent mobile. Jumping off the motorcycle and into a forward flip Daimyo rose into the air pulling out the grenade with one hand and the tanto with the other. When he reached the side of the agents car he used the tanto to pry open the gas tank before tossing the rather small grenade into it. Ushering a quick prayer to whatever higher power existed Daimyo jumped forward from car top to car top until he reached the car Lincoln that the crew of the Icarus was driving. Ballard opened the sunroof and pulled Daimyo into the back seat were the Japanese man quickly pressed a button on his watch and boom.  
  
"Holy Shit" Abel cried out from his computer listening to an explosion and then static before hearing shaking bodies and curses. "They just missed the trainman".  
  
Mr. Clark had elected to drive Bobby, and Danielle home from the weekly trip to Grandma's while Mrs. Clark accompanied her light and joy to the hospital after Danielle had found him lying on the floor blabbering something about Orcs, Uzi's, Minks and kisses and biting Muko's. Just then a madman cut of her father on a motorcycle.  
  
"Damn European", he yelled at the young rider "your on the wrong side of the road". He honked and honked but the European seemed to be following a bright pink caravan that had Daisy-May day care on the side. The riders were strange men in black suits. She'd seen them before in her dreams until. She thought about them again as her father stopped at a four-way intersection.  
  
"Holy Crap" Morpheus called out, "What the hell was that".  
  
The rebels excited to see a car wreck falling into the side of the road. With super human strength Apache broke the door off its hinge and pulled out a small child.  
  
"He's good"; Apache called out "just a mild concussion".  
  
"Who are you", asked the boy?  
  
"My name is Apache, don't worry your safe now".  
  
Puck took the little boy into her arms and began cradling. Mink on the other hand was on her cell right away having Mifune instruct her to the nearest hospital. Morpheus was now carrying a girl in his arms. Eva almost cried when she saw the girl's face.  
  
"That's Niobe, our, our potential", Eva cried out "We have to save her".  
  
"Anyone else in the car", Mink called out?  
"Yes", replied the boy "my pop".  
  
"How is she", asked Eva looking at Danielle?  
  
"Unconscious," Morpheus told her "but still breathing".  
  
"What about the father, he's beat up pretty bad " Eva told them, "do you think we can get him to a hospital".  
  
"No point", Apache said looking the boy in the eye "Sorry kiddo".  
  
"What", Bobby asked?  
  
Apache gazed up at the rest of the crew "He's dead".  
  
Authors Note: Readers today my favorite story ended. It was written by my Beta-Reader and accomplished author Dark Puck. The story Matrix Legacy. So please fellow readers give this story the proper recognition it deserves by reading it. I guarantee it won't be a waste of time 


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